When Kim Seojun climbed into the battle tank, he was quite confident.
‘There’s no reason I can’t take down an infected Psyker who lacks mobility.’
It wasn’t unfounded confidence.
Kim Seojun wasn’t a tanker, but he had operated battle tanks so many times that he could proudly say he had killed more Mog with them than most veteran tankers.
The only thing he lacked was a license. He even knew how to drive a battle tank to some extent.
In any case, Kim Seojun was quite confident in his aim.
Furthermore, he thought that with his Dynamic Vision, he could achieve even better results than before.
Even so, he had considered the possibility that it would turn into a prolonged battle.
‘Although it’ll take some time.’
A battle so long that he would have to use every shell stored in the battle tank and then resupply with additional ammunition.
‘I'll manage somehow. If we lose the Polish headquarters here, we honestly won’t have any alternatives left.’
It wouldn’t be easy.
But, put another way, they didn’t have many options available either, so he had no choice but to use the one he had.
Of course, all those concerns disappeared the moment he sat down in the gunner’s seat.
As soon as he saw that red light.
All his concerns had been unnecessary.
He was inside a battle tank whose shots could now hit without missing, facing an infected Psyker equipped with a Block Suit that had practically no mobility.
There was nothing to think about.
He didn’t even need to get closer to improve his accuracy.
He could do it from far away.
“Stop.”
“What? I think I misheard you. You said to stop, but I heard wrong, right?”
“You heard correctly.”
“We’re stopping here? You can’t even see him from this distance!”
“I can see him.”
It was such an absurd distance that even Park Boseop, who was driving the battle tank, was bewildered.
At a point slightly beyond the effective range of the battle tank’s shells, Kim Seojun immediately began manipulating the controller.
And then he pressed the button.
BOOM!
The interior of the battle tank filled with the deafening roar of the cannon.
They could even feel an indescribable vibration rippling through the air.
“Perfect.”
Once a battle tank fired its first shot, it normally took quite a bit of time to aim again.
Its accuracy wasn’t particularly high.
For starters, the first shell was usually used to adjust the aim, and the gunner’s true skill was demonstrated by whether or not he could hit the target with the second.
The reason was very simple.
Normally, a prolonged silence followed the first shot.
‘Now Sergeant Kim will aim again.’
Park Boseop naturally expected Kim Seojun to do exactly that.
BOOM!
‘Huh?’
But Kim Seojun shattered that common sense and immediately fired another shell.
‘Eh?!’
The same thing happened with the third shot.
BOOM!
Kim Seojun fired the instant each shell finished loading.
At that point, it couldn’t even be called aiming anymore.
He was practically firing indiscriminately.
He even immediately fired a fourth shell.
BOOM!
Beeeeep!
At that instant, a warning appeared inside the battle tank.
The cannon had overheated due to how rapidly he had fired the shells, and the system warned him that he needed to let it cool down.
Only then did silence return.
“S-Sergeant Kim!”
In the middle of that silence, Park Boseop spoke in a trembling voice.
“W-What just happened?”
Although he asked, Park Boseop naturally assumed Kim Seojun had just unleashed a series of absurd, uncontrolled shots.
He thought some kind of problem had occurred.
That Kim Seojun would declare the attack a failure and issue new orders.
But Kim Seojun spoke.
“Private First Class Park Boseop, the situation has changed.”
At Park Boseop’s surprise, Kim Seojun continued.
“The battle against the infected is over.”
“What?”
“Just as I said. I took down the infected Psyker.”
Even as he spoke, Kim Seojun deliberately avoided saying that he had killed him.
The vitality of the infected was extraordinarily tenacious.
Even so, he declared the battle over because he was convinced that, even if the infected Psyker was still alive, he would have been left in a condition that made it impossible for him to continue fighting.
And an infected Psyker who had lost a couple of limbs or had only his upper body remaining had no chance of defeating Lee Hyena while she remained in perfect condition.
It was then.
A series of notifications rang in Kim Seojun’s ears.
[Combat has ended.]
[You have eliminated a Feather-class Mog creature.]
[You have obtained 3,000 points.]
[Due to the mission, all points obtained will be multiplied by 3.]
[You have eliminated a Feather-class Mog creature for the first time.]
[You have received a Gold Ticket.]
[You have fulfilled the mission conditions.]
[You have received a Platinum Ticket.]
As soon as he heard them, Kim Seojun spoke without hesitation.
“Infected Psyker eliminated.”
He informed Lee Hyena and all his companions in the distance that he had eliminated the monster.
And then he added,
“So get ready.”
“For the next battle.”
After finishing speaking, Kim Seojun raised his head.
Naturally, he hadn’t missed the grotesque vibration emitted by the Cyclops either.
Rather than merely not missing it, Kim Seojun had heard it better than the others.
It wasn’t because his hearing was particularly good.
Kim Seojun simply rarely overlooked anything that could threaten his life.
In any case, he knew what it meant.
A terrifying army of Mog could arrive there at any moment.
And Kim Seojun was willing to face that army.
He had confidence to spare.
‘Come.’
‘As long as we have a battle tank, I don’t intend to lose. No, this is actually an opportunity. An opportunity to accumulate points.’
It was then.
Kiiiiiiiiiiii!
The Cyclops emitted that sound again.
Kim Seojun heard it.
“Son of a bitch! Enough already, fuck! Enough!”
Park Boseop cursed without even realizing it.
Just when it seemed as though they could finally catch their breath, the Cyclops had emitted that sound again.
It meant hell was approaching.
Park Boseop mentally prepared himself for what was coming.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Yes, Sergeant Kim! I’m ready! Today I’ll see this through to the end!”
However, Kim Seojun told him,
“Stay alert. But it’s very likely that no more Mog reinforcements will arrive.”
“What? How do you know?”
Kim Seojun replied,
“It’s a feeling. Just a feeling.”
And Kim Seojun’s words soon became reality.
The moment it emitted that sound, the Cyclops began moving away.
There was no additional attack from the Mog army.
Even after an hour passed, there was still no sign of the Mog.
It was the moment when the battle finally came to an end.
As soon as he confirmed that, Kim Seojun immediately got moving.
He finished eliminating the infected who still remained inside the Polish headquarters.
“Clear.”
After that, they began taking measures to decontaminate the Mog Virus.
“First, we have to deal with the Mog Virus. Activate the sterilization system.”
Every area of the Polish headquarters was sealed off one after another, and a powerful disinfectant began spraying everywhere.
At the same time, the survivors, still wearing their suits, began disinfecting the corpses of the infected with sterilization extinguishers.
Psssssssh!
In Lee Hyena’s case, she was immediately placed in quarantine as a precaution against any possible contamination.
Meanwhile, Kim Seojun began organizing the situation.
“Major, I know this must be difficult after everything that has happened, but I ask for your understanding.”
Lee Hyena, who had gone directly into the disinfectant after the battle ended while still wearing her Agent Suit, didn’t express the slightest complaint.
“I understand perfectly.”
“We have 57 survivors. Who currently holds the highest command authority?”
“I do now.”
Major Jan Zabłocki had become the acting commander of the Polish headquarters.
From Major Jan Zabłocki’s perspective, that was truly the worst possible situation.
It meant that all of his superiors except him had died.
At the same time, it meant that the lives of all the survivors now rested on Major Jan Zabłocki’s shoulders.
Just imagining it was enough to make one feel dizzy.
“My condolences.”
“I appreciate your condolences. And I also thank you for saving the Polish headquarters.”
“Tell me what you need. As acting commander of the headquarters, I promise you our full support.”
From Kim Seojun’s perspective, that meant he could practically do whatever he wanted.
And Kim Seojun was more than willing to take advantage of the situation.
“Prepare for combat.”
“Combat?”
“Yes.”
Everyone was surprised by those words.
“What do you mean? Didn’t the Mog retreat? We confirmed that the Cyclops withdrew!”
“Before long, an enormous Mog army will arrive here.”
Everyone had believed the battle was over and had finally begun letting out sighs of relief.
However, Kim Seojun knew.
Kim Seojun knew perfectly well what kind of creatures the Mog were.
“The Mog I know don’t have anything like the option of retreating. If they retreated anyway, it was probably to gather an even larger army.”
He knew it wouldn’t end there.
“Of course, this isn’t a normal situation. I can’t say for certain either. It’s only a prediction based on my experience. But given the current circumstances, we have to prepare even at the slightest sign that something might happen.”
Even if Kim Seojun was wrong, given the current situation, they had to prepare with everything they had for any eventuality.
Major Jan Zabłocki nodded.
“We’ll prepare.”
If they followed Kim Seojun’s words and all that effort ended up being unnecessary, that would simply be a reason to celebrate.
As soon as he heard that answer, Kim Seojun added another request.
“And one more thing.”
When Lee Hyena emerged from the sterilization process, Kim Seojun was waiting for her.
“Major.”
He took her to the morgue.
“I want to examine the corpses of the infected Space Marines.”
“Yes.”
Lee Hyena immediately nodded.
Kim Seojun asked,
“This wound on the head, did you make it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s the only wound he has.”
“Because I finished him with a single blow.”
“Is there a problem?”
Lee Hyena spoke confidently.
Kim Seojun replied,
“Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”
“Strange?”
“Normally, when someone becomes infected while wearing a suit, it happens after they’ve been attacked. However, the infected this time don’t have any significant wounds despite having been wearing their suits.”
At those words, the expressions of everyone present, including Lee Hyena, changed.
First came confusion.
Shortly afterward, their expressions hardened.
Because they immediately understood what that meant.
“There are only two possibilities. The first is that the infected Space Marines voluntarily put on their battle suits after becoming infected. The second is that they were infected with the Mog Virus while they were already wearing their battle suits.”
“Uh, Sergeant Kim, you’re not saying that……?”
Naturally, there was no possibility that those infected, beings consumed by extreme rage, had thought,
‘Now we have to kill everyone, so let’s put on our battle suits. The procedure for equipping them is as follows.’
And then calmly put on their battle suits.
That left only one conclusion.
Someone had deliberately spread the Mog Virus.
In other words, someone had used that absurd disease as a biological weapon.
That was an extremely serious matter.
“But isn’t using the Mog Virus as a weapon prohibited?”
After the problems caused by the Mog Virus, every country on Earth had established that using it as a weapon constituted an extremely serious crime.
If a country was discovered to have weaponized it, it would face severe condemnation from the international community.
“Yes. They regulated it. Just like what happened long ago with nuclear bombs.”
Of course, Kim Seojun and everyone else knew perfectly well that those regulations didn’t mean much.
Nor was weaponizing the Mog Virus particularly difficult.
There wasn’t even any need to modify it.
It was enough to use it in the same way as any other existing biological weapon.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the process of turning the Mog Virus into a weapon was probably already practically complete.
And there was something else Kim Seojun was certain of.
There weren’t many countries capable of doing something like that.
And at that moment, only one of them was especially suspicious.
“The main suspect is China.”
Kim Seojun also imagined another possible scenario.
‘A planet where a Queen appeared just as the Gate was destroyed. It’s the perfect place to test a weapon based on the Mog Virus.’
It was possible that they were conducting an experiment on planet Amotia.
Of course, that was nothing more than a hypothetical scenario, so Kim Seojun didn’t say it aloud.
Faced with that reality, everyone present remained silent.
The only indisputable fact was that the Mog were no longer the only threat on planet Amotia.
“We have to be careful.”
Although, naturally, they were all thinking practically the same thing.
‘It has to be China.’
‘This seems like China’s doing.’
‘It was definitely China.’
And their suspicions didn’t come from nowhere.
There was only one country they all considered capable of turning the Mog Virus into a weapon and using it in an experiment.
For starters, the original cause of the Mog Virus’s appearance had been China ignoring international regulations and secretly conducting research on part of a Queen’s corpse.
Even after that, China had received international criticism dozens of times for conducting secret experiments related to the Mog.
Of course, even if China really was responsible, there was no way to verify it at that moment.
Kim Seojun thought exactly the same thing.
‘Entering the Chinese headquarters would be madness.’
After all, the Chinese headquarters possessed the largest force on all of planet Amotia.
‘Even if we managed to enter a place under that level of surveillance, we wouldn’t be able to do anything.’
That was why he didn’t continue thinking too deeply about the matter.
Although he suspected China, he had absolutely no intention of trying to do anything about it.
‘There’s no reason to obsess over something I can’t do. The first thing is to deal with the problem in front of me.’
Above all, what Kim Seojun had to deal with immediately was the Mog army that would probably be heading toward the Polish headquarters.
‘We have to stop them no matter what. If we lose the headquarters, it’s over. Putting everything else aside, with this many survivors, we won’t even be able to get enough food by relying solely on the bunker supplies.’
To prevent that, Kim Seojun was willing to use absolutely every means at his disposal.
That was why he decided to immediately use the rewards he had just obtained.
And he started with the most important one.
“Use Platinum Ticket.”
As he used it, Kim Seojun thought that anything he obtained would be an enormous help.
So he should be satisfied no matter what the result was.
Then he heard a notification.
[You have obtained the skill Stealth (F) from a Platinum Ticket!]